(From company literature) The EVOLT E-330 is the world's first digital SLR to offer "Live" viewing through the Color LCD, making it easier to compose and capture the perfect shot. This big 2.5" LCD also features HyperCrystal technology and is designed with advanced swivel capability so you can capture one dramatic result after another from up top, down low, and everywhere in-between. With innovations like these - combined with world-class optics and our patented Dust Reduction System - the E-330 lets you shoot like no other digital interchangeable lens SLR before.

Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Total Spent: $280.00| Rating: 9

Pros:

The most useful live view incarnation, even today (2009 May), "self IS"

Cons:

Jpeg's HI iso quality not great (shoot raw instead), 7,5 Mp not so much for today

I bought this camera after the E-410 and E-510, then I sold both. The raising display is so much confortable to use (better than E-3's or E-620's). With live view "A" you can quickly autofocus every lens, even the excellent 50mm macro. The E-410 was so "shaky" due to the small hand grip, that almost every picture showed a little motion blur; the E-510 was better, but this e-330 is the steadiest, due the lateral movement of the mirror, I think.
With a new sensor and passive AF in live view "B" would be a killer; still I'll keep this one for some year.

smak

Registered: December 2006Posts: 2

Olympus EVOLT E-330 review by smak

Review Date: 12/24/2006

Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Total Spent: None indicated| Rating: 9

Pros:

live-view, tilting large display, size&weight, versatility, great lenses available

Cons:

not much, really.

The live view is the reason I bought this body; I chose it to complement my E1, as both are very different. The obvious use of live-view is to shoot at weird or impractical angles, but I use it far more, for example it makes working from a tripod 10x more comfortable. The mode-B live view lets you (manually) focus on a 10x enlarged part of the frame, using the real sensor, which is a great feature. All in all I find the live view well implemented and it simply adds a unique, and very worthwhile, feature to the E-system.

The body itself is kind of average; build-quality is pretty good but it's no E1 that's for sure. The unusual shape is rather nice in real life, it's streamlined shape slides in and out of a camera bag easily. A second scroll-wheel on the front would have been nice, as well as an IR sensor on the back for the remote. (tripod use again...)

Image-quality is excellent and personally I much prefer the E-system's 3:4 aspect ratio over the normal 2:3. It also has the great Olympus-colors, and good dynamic range. The ESP metering is excellent.

The normal SLR viewfinder is okay, but I can add I only have f2.8 or 3.5 lenses, which help to get a brighter finder, and which also have less DoF wide open, to aid focusing. AF is very exact.

Because of the live-view, the great (and fast) lenses available, the dust-remover, and the small size of a very complete outfit, the E330 has quickly become my travel-camera of choice.